Oh good grief, I am so far behind on my own recordkeeping. Maybe I should toss it all!

The best movie I saw in May was Star Trek. I saw things that considered themselves more important than that movie, but they didn’t live up to their own forecasts.

The best book I read in May was a three-way tie between The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris and two really awesome sci-fi books: Wanderlust and Grimspace both by Ann Aguirre. But you know, unlike with going to shows, I’ve been reading a LOT this year (June was the first month of 2009 to see me read under fewer than 10 books), and for the most part I have really liked the stuff I’ve been reading. So you know, pinning it down is a bit…silly. Mayhaps. 🙂

The best gig I went to in May doesn’t exist (as with April and March). (I have NOT been going to shows this year. Not sure what’s happening there.)

My favorite tunes in May were new albums from Telekinesis!, Eminem, Green Day and Phoenix. Perhaps I’ll get caught up on album reviews soon and come back and give ya a link. 😉Write-up here.

Oh good grief, I am so far behind on my own recordkeeping. Maybe I should toss it all!

The best movie I saw in April was Sunshine Cleaning. Not mindblowing but certainly worth seeing.

The best book I read in April was Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Really intense and thoughtful. Wasn’t totally thrilled with the ending, but that wasn’t enough to make me stop thinking about it and recommending it to people.

The best gig I went to in April doesn’t exist (as with March). (I have NOT been going to shows this year. Not sure what’s happening there.)

My favorite tunes in April were new albums from Gomez and Great Lake Swimmers, two of my very favorite bands. And my favorite single was “Lights Off” The Dears.

Random personal highlights: I paid a visit to my friends in Milwaukee. Was that the month the Settlers of Catan craziness started? I think it may have been. One of several goodbye parties for Jen & Naz (fun party, sad occasion.

Lowlights? You know, at this point, really, I don’t remember! Fortunately for my mental health, I tend to only jot down the good things.

Oh good grief, I am so far behind on my own recordkeeping. Maybe I should toss it all!
The best movie I saw in March was The Reader which I was oddly unprepared for the subject matter of but thought Winslet’s performance was really tour de force.
The best book I read in March was… Wow that one is really hard to narrow down (especially after all this time!). I’m going to call it a tie between “City of Refuge” by Tom Piazza, which was really heartbreaking fictionally as the Katrina situation was in real life; “Bone Crossed” by Patricia Briggs, because honestly that woman cannot write a book that doesn’t keep me up all night savoring every word; and “The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Stieg Larsson, a satisfying sequel that had me on the edge of my seat.
The best gig I went to in March doesn’t exist. (I have NOT been going to shows this year. Not sure what’s happening there.)
My favorite tunes in March were new albums from Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Boy Least Likely To, and U2 and I was really digging these singles (still am, frankly): “Afterglow” Kate York, “Airport Surroundings” Lonely, Dear, and “Sweet Dream” Greg Laswell.
Random personal highlights: I applied for a ginormo lifechange which you may know I am now about four weeks into; Lauren and I went on a photowalk in the wastelands of downtown Chicago; awesome dinner out w/ Monica, Jen and Cinnamon (all part of Jen’s extended goodbye series); and I’m not even sure at this point what some of the notations in my calendar mean so we’ll just leave it at that.
Lowlights? Who knows. It was just so long ago now! 🙂

Apparently all I did in January was read. The choices in other categories were sparse, my friends, very sparse.

The best movie I saw in January was Coraline.

The best book I read in January was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which was just outright excellent. No doubt about it.

The best gig I went to in January DOES NOT EXIST. I didn’t see/hear any live music in January? WTF!

My favorite tunes in January were MGMT “Oracular Spectacular”, new Bon Iver EP “Blood Bank” and Why? “Alopecia.” I was also still listening to Frightened Rabbit “Midnight Organ Fight”. A lot. And other favorites from 2008.

Random personal highlights: Brunch with cousins; tail-end of Cat’s visit including brunch w/ Lauren-O and Petey Sweatshirt; Cinnamon-arranged Stitch ‘n’ Tweet; BStarG returned to TV: fancy dinner for T; Game Day! at my house; Party in Milwaukee; Spamalot. Huh. Pretty good month. In retrospect.

Lowlights? Stress at secondary browsing location. (Shocker, I KNOW.)

The best movie I saw in December…was Bolt, the ONLY movie I saw (Pathetic! Especially considering I was on vacation the first week of the month.
The best book I read in December was… hmmm, hard to pin it down when you read 11 books that month!!! I’ll make it a three-way tie between Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan; Deaf Sentence, by David Lodge; and Black & White, by Dani Shapiro. But I don’t think there were many of my December reads that I wouldn’t recommend to you. It was a great month for reading.
The best gig I went to in December was My Morning Jacket, which was allright but I actually thought the time I saw them at Lollapalooza was a better set. The ony other show I went to I didn’t review. It was The Sea and Cake on New Year’s Eve, which was good, but I wasn’t really aware of their stuff before so I wasn’t necessarily super engaged. Plus you know, NYE, crowds, loud drunk girls, etc. Cathy and I had fun but then we had enough fun so we went home early! 🙂
My favorite tunes in December boils down to one album: Frightened Rabbit “The Midnight Organ Fight” which I pretty much listened to nonstop. And I listened to a lot of Kanye, Killers, and Pink (all from November) as well.
Random personal highlights: A week off! Yay!; hung out with Cinnachick!; Back to the Future marathon with Carlos; dinner with my cousins; brunch with MK; brunch with KC; dinner at the Coopers; and Cathy came to visit!!! YAY!!!!
Lowlights? Can’t remember any in particular. Now that’s rare!!

Oh look, I finally got through December. Now I can write up my year-end lists. I’m SO TIMELY this time around. Ha!